How to Build Breaks into Your Remote Work Day

All work and no rest makes Remote Ronnie cranky and inefficient

As veteran remote workers can attest, it’s all too easy to let your work take over every waking hour. While some employers worry that their remote employees are slacking, most remote employees struggle with taking proper breaks from work. Breaks are important for a variety of reasons. This article will discuss ways to make sure you actually take them.

Schedule Your Breaks

It can be hard to justify a break, if your work is demanding, or if you procrastinate and feel bad about stepping away from the job. It sounds counter-intuitive but scheduling breaks can help with both of these scenarios. Short breaks help you recharge so you can continue to handle a fast-moving task list. If your problem is procrastination, understand that work will fill up all available space. Scheduling hard start and stop times creates the deadline-driven environment that some people need to focus. For others, procrastination stems from fatigue. If you give your brain downtime, it won’t need to force downtime via procrastination.

Treat your breaks as important appointments. If your work has to spill into a break, reschedule it. Use your calendar’s alert function to notify you of an upcoming break. And then take your break.

Back Away from Your Desk

Checking your social media sounds like a nice break from work, but it isn’t as effective as actually getting away from your desk. Some people routinely ignore scheduled break time. Sometimes this is because work reels you back in, in the form of text messages and urgent emails. Even if you temporarily turn off all notifications and close your work tabs, it can be hard to fully unplug and relax in the space you associate with working. In the remote workforce, you still need to have some version of a break room.

Plan Your Break Activity in Advance

You are more likely to take a break if you know what you’re doing. These small pauses in the workday can also serve the dual function of recharging your brain and moving you forward on personal goals. That can make a break from work more palatable if you are ambitious or goal-driven. Do you want to work more reading into your life? Set out your book or cue it up on your device so it’s waiting for you. Are you trying to build exercise into your day? Plan your route outside, or choose a workout app and have it loaded on your phone. Apps like ‘Movr’ have exercise routines that you can complete in five minutes.

Remote work gives you an unparalleled opportunity to fit more “life” into your life. Take advantage of this. While traditional office workers are obliged to sit in an office, YOU have the opportunity to work from anywhere (and possibly at any time)that you have an internet connection. Schedule your breaks, actually take them, and soon you will find that you have more energy for both your professional and personal goals.